In the previous article, Book Condition Ratings Explained & Compared, we’ve covered all the essentials regarding how the book condition rating system works and how different marketplaces grade used books they sell. Today, we’ll give you a few hands-on recommendations regarding the process of determining book conditions. While most book resellers know all about it from personal experience, we’re positive some beginning book resellers will find our article helpful.

• Book Condition Rating Systems
• How to Inspect Books—Tips to Determine Your Book Condition
  • Primary Examination: Item Check
  • Secondary Examination: Determining Condition
  • Conditioning Old and Rare Books
  • Be Objective in Your Evaluation
  • Be Careful with Books Yourself
• Book Conditioning FAQs

Book Condition Rating Systems

Before we get all practical, let’s revise what we already know. 

First of all, before we get all practical, we suggest you go through our previous article, Book Condition Ratings Explained & Compared, and recall what we already discussed about book condition ratings. As you now know, most booksellers rate used books on the range from Used – Like New to Unacceptable; however, different marketplaces choose different grading scales.

For your convenience, we’re sharing the comparison table we compiled in the previous article once again:

Comparative grades
5/5—New, As New	New	Brand new	As New	New Very Fine	Fine Like New (F)	New
4/5—Fine, Very Good	Used (Like New) Used (Very Good)	Like new Very good	Fine (F or FN) Very Good (VG)	Fine (F or FN) Near Fine (NRF) Very Good (VG)	Near Fine (NF) Very Good (VG)	Very good
3/5—Good	Used (Good)	Good	Good (G)	Good (G)	Good (G)	Good
2/5—Acceptable	Used (Acceptable)	Acceptable	Fair	Fair (F)	Fair (FR)	–
1/5—Everything else	Unacceptable	–	Poor Binding Copy Reading Copy	Poor (P)	Poor (P)	–

We’ve compiled this table with book condition ratings from several bookselling marketplaces to illustrate our attempt to unify these different approaches into a 1 to 5 scale. So when you sell books on several platforms (which you probably do), you can use it as a reference when apprising your books.

Secondly, we suggest you learn as much as possible about each of your bookselling channels (especially if you’re just getting started). For instance, if you sell most of your inventory on Amazon, you need to know how to grade books so that they pass Amazon checks without any problems. Amazon outlines its book condition guidelines and textbook guidelines quite clearly, so it’s not the purpose of this article to repeat this information; you can go through it yourself. Besides, you should also understand which of your other sales channels have any specific requirements (or peculiarities) that you should take into consideration. As a matter of fact, eBay’s grade to determine the condition of books is a bit different from Amazon’s, so you have to understand how to determine the book’s condition for each platform separately. The same book can be listed as Very good or Good depending on the market.

How to Inspect Books—Tips to Determine Your Book Condition

We’ll cover the basics: steps you must take and things you must do when you grade your books. Now that you know the different book condition descriptions, let’s see how we approach each book (with examples).

Be Thorough

As 90% of your book inventory is probably used books, you should learn to examine them fast, thoroughly, and efficiently. Being too perfectionist won’t take you far; being too hasty and inattentive in your inspections will lead to negative reviews and all sorts of problems. So, make sure you do it fast but properly.

Primary Examination: Item Check

While the aim of the article is to tell you how to determine book conditions, we suppose it won’t hurt to remind you about the necessity to check and confirm the book’s ISBN to match the product on the marketplace. Also, check the following thing that should match: hardcover/paperback (surprising as it is, the book in your hands may be a hardcover, but a listing on Amazon may display it as a paperback for some reason). Also, check whether it’s an instructor’s edition/a complimentary copy/an exam copy/a preliminary edition/etc. Keep in mind that if your textbook is an international edition, you can’t sell it as a US edition.

Secondary Examination: Determining Condition

Inspect the core parts of the book thoroughly:

• Dust jacket/Cover
• Corners
• Pages
• Spine

For instance, you have a copy of How to Read Bridges: A Crash Course Spanning the Centuries. It’s in pretty good condition, with a good cover, no scratches, no signs of damage, clean edges and spine, and all of the book’s pages are in perfect order. Yet it doesn’t have the look and feel of a pristinely new book; you can see it was opened and read. The previous owner treated it with love and care, but we recommend listing it as Very Good or Good. 

Here’s what you should pay attention to when you sort your books in separate piles according to their state:

• The book has/doesn’t have an original protective wrapping. If a book is in its original wrapping and isn’t damaged in any way, you can list it as New. If not, downgrade it to Like New or else.

• The book is in the original dust jacket. / Dust jacket is missing. Check if it’s in ideal/good/fair/poor condition. Some books can have good pages but obvious signs of tear and wear on the dust jacket. These books most likely can only be listed as Acceptable.

• The spine is clear of any damage. / Minor damages are present. / Etc. Check the spine for signs of damage, tear, and wear. We’ve added a few examples of spines with different degrees of damage. The first book is a bit torn, so you can’t list it as Good; the rest can more or less pass as Good or Fair:

• No signs of wear. / There’re some signs of wear/heavy wear/etc.In the first example below, the book has badly torn edges; other books also have minor scratches and bumped corners, which inevitably downgrades them to lower condition categories.

• No damage to the edges. / Edges have minor signs of damage/scratches/etc. The state of the edges also affects how the book is conditioned. While the book may look more or less ok overall, various scratches, dents, stains, etc. on the edges inevitably send it to the Good (or even Acceptable) pile.

• No damage to the pages. / Pages have folds/smudges/tears/etc. In the example below, you can see a few very yellowed (and sunned) books. While the pages look alright, these books can be graded as Fine or Acceptable, depending on the marketplace.

• No highlights, markings, underlines, etc. / Some or many highlights, markings, underlines, etc. This is an important part: it may be hard to sell books with library stamps, heavily highlighted books, books with stickers, etc., at some marketplaces. Besides, former library books with stickers and markings will automatically send your book to a Good pile (at the very best). So it makes sense to inspect each book you want to list carefully. Always make sure to mention these facts in the description because customers do care. After all, you don’t want bad reviews, do you?

• No dust. / Dust or grease on pages, cover, etc. Check the book for signs of dirt, dust, grease, stains, etc. Such books won’t sell well. After all, who wants a book—even if it’s used and cheap—that was obviously used as a food tray and not as a book? Exactly, no one.
• No water damage. / Signs of water damage. It’s obvious: books that bear marks of contact with water will most likely go to the Acceptable pile at the very best.
• No manufactural misprints. / Any misprints/etc. Such things also happen, and while they’re not your fault, you’d better be aware of them before your customers tell you about them.

Conditioning Old and Rare Books

While it’s not the purpose of this article to outline the rules of determining book conditions for rare books and collectibles, you can use our tips if you come across an old book you want to sell. So here’s what you do: take a good look at the book’s overall appearance and pay attention to the same things we’ve already discussed. Let’s use the copy of The Dramatic Works Of William Shakespeare (1839 edition, published by John Child and Son printed for Thomas Tegg) as an example.

You can see that the book is bound in leather, with quite a bit of wear and rubbing and a few scratches along the cover and age-related paper toning but internally very good. It’s also a signed copy with fore-edge painting (though no cover art), so you should take these things into consideration as well. All in all, it seems to be in pretty good condition, and judging by the condition of the pages, it may have never been read, so on Amazon’s grading scale, it can pass either as Collectible – Very Good or Collectible – Good. 

Working with books that are more than a hundred years old is exciting. Yet, it’s an entirely separate bookselling niche that requires specific knowledge and experience. Perhaps, we’ll get back to this topic in more detail in one of our articles in the future, so stay tuned.

Be Objective in Your Evaluation

While listing some of your books as New may be tempting, you should be objective. Though you may have new items, most of your stock will be from the Like New category (and lower). We recommend sticking to the rule that you don’t overgrade your books. Take a look at another example: this copy of The Tower and the Bridge: The New Art of Structural Engineering has only a few dings to the cover; its pages and edges are all perfect. Yet again, it has a distinct air of a book that has been read at least once, so we should probably list it as Good:

Make sure you inspect your books as objectively as possible, and if there’re highlights or signs of slight damage, make sure you mention it and condition the book accordingly. In all situations, use common sense. Whether we’re talking about Amazon or any other bookselling marketplace, it’s the surest way to keep your account safe and sound. If, at first sight, a book has an ideal cover, look at the edges and pages, and check it for any things that shouldn’t be there (e.g., bookmarks, sticky notes, checks, dried flowers, you got it). 

Here’s another example: this copy of Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior had never been read since it was bought a few years ago. However, it no longer looks fresh (so it can be conditioned as Like New), which automatically makes it a Very Good listing candidate:

Be Careful with Books Yourself

You may easily be blamed for damages during shipping, even if it’s not your fault. Nonetheless, always be very careful when you inspect books. Why so? Being careful ensures that books stay in the best condition they can be listed. Always touch the books with clean hands to avoid smudges. Be careful turning the pages and examining the cover (especially in paperbacks) in order not to damage or tear anything. In other words, be very careful at every stage of inspection, all the way through packaging.

Book Conditioning FAQs

How Much Does Proper Book Conditioning Matter?

At BookScouter, we absolutely agree with the piece of advice from the video about How to Grade Books Condition | Sell Books on Amazon FBA Guidelines, which is all about underpromising and overdelivering.

As we’ve already said, stay objective in the process of book inspection and better choose to downgrade your books instead of overgrading them. Try looking at the book you want to sell from a customer’s point of view: how would you feel to receive a heavily worn book that was listed as Like New? Exactly. Stay objective; don’t overgrade. This will give you better results and more satisfied customers.

Should I Always Add Condition Notes to My Book Listings?

We’d say, unless your book is New, always do so. If there’s something a customer should know about (unless you want to make an unpleasant surprise to them), always add notes about any peculiarities of a book. Depending on the marketplace, you can do it manually; if you’re using a listing or inventory management system, the process may be a bit different but quite easy nonetheless.

Final Thoughts

So, to cap it all, we’d like to say that book conditions are important. Equally important is your accurate inspection of a book before sending it to a marketplace and objective grading. When assessing a book’s condition, check everything we’ve outlined earlier and always remember that even such minor issues as bends and creases can impact a book’s value. We hope our guide will be helpful to everyone who’s in a book reselling business. Good luck with your sales!

Are you one of those people who like examining staff and looking for something special to buy for yourself or someone else? You enjoy spending time at antique shops, and you were always inspired by the idea of making money reselling goods?

Selling books can be a great way to turn your passion into a profit. In this blog, we’ll explore the different ways you can make money selling books, from leveraging online marketplaces to setting up your brick-and-mortar store. Whether you’re a retail arbitrage enthusiastic starter or a professional bookseller, you’ll learn how to make money on book arbitrage. So let’s get started!

Let’s discuss some key points of selling books. Below you’ll find a step-by-step guide on how to make money selling books confidently and profitably.

1. Research the Market

Researching the market can help you identify the most lucrative category and the best pricing for those books. Try to analyze the demand for different book categories. You’ll want to identify what categories are popular and what categories are not. This will help you determine which categories are the most profitable to focus on.

Generally, you can pay attention to those niches that are always selling well; they are:

• Textbooks
• Non-fiction books
• Children’s books
• Religion and self-help books
• Modern first-edition books
• Craft books
• Sheet music
• Collectibles and antique books

Regarding which books are best to sell, it can also depend on what kind of books you’re personally interested in. For example, if you’re a fan of science fiction, fantasy books, or classic literature, you’ll want to focus on selling books in those categories.

Advice

Start small. If you’re just getting started in the bookselling business and afraid of a plausible failure, it’s best to start with one category just to test the ground. It’ll be a simple step to undertake without taking risks and investing in a lot of overhead.

Let the BookScouter Pro tools help you make money selling books. Use high resale value books to develop the best bookselling strategy based on real data. You can track popular ISBNs with the high resale value, analyze book prices, and identify the best categories and titles by accessing BookScouter users’ search history. The tool shows the books above a certain buyback value searched within the last 14 days by BookScouter users. You can enter the minimum and maximum price and the number of days to search through. It is the best assistant for those who make money on book arbitrage.

2. Find Sources for Books

One of the best things about selling books for profit is that you can find cheap books that you can resell for a higher price. You can find these books anywhere, from secondhand bookstores to online marketplaces. Here are some of the best places to search for cheap books that you can sell for a profit:

• Thrift stores and local used bookstores (like Goodwill)
• Garage sales
• Online marketplaces (such as eBay or Amazon)
• Library sales
• Book fairs
• Yard sales
• Flea markets
• Craigslist (for cheap textbooks)
• Family and friends

By searching for cheap books, you can make some extra money by reselling books for a profit. Just be sure to determine a book’s condition before reselling it and look for books that can be resold for a higher price.

3. Setting Up Your Business

The next step to setting up a business to sell books for profit is choosing the right platform. Many options are available, e.g., through online bookstores, book fairs, flea markets, and even your website. Each has advantages and disadvantages, so you should research the different websites to sell your books and determine which is best for your business.

Amazon and eBay are great starting points, booksellers actively use them to make money selling books, and these popular platforms also provide helpful tools and services to help you list and manage your inventory.

If you don’t have time to list your books on these websites and wait too long for buyers, you can sell your books to buyback vendors through BookScouter, especially if you’re mainly involved in selling textbooks for profit.

If you want to build your own website, you should look into using a platform like Shopify with all the tools you need to get your store up and running.

Once you have chosen your platform, the next step is to create a plan for organizing your books. If you have your own website for selling books, you will need to decide how you want to categorize your books, as well as how you want to list and price them. Additionally, you should map out a plan for handling inventory, packaging, shipping, receiving funds, and customer service.

Working with Amazon requires thoroughly studying shipping, customer fulfillment methods (FBM or FBA), and different seller plans to choose the most suitable and profitable business model. If you are new to selling books on Amazon, check out a step-by-step guide on how to sell textbooks on Amazon to help you sort things out.

As you can see, setting up your business takes some work to get off the ground, but with the right plan, you will successfully pass this stage and start making money.

Advice (for those who sell books on Amazon)

Taking quality photographs of your books is essential for your book-selling business. Customers want to be able to see what they are buying, so you should make sure to take clear, high-quality photos of each book you are selling.

You will also need to write informative book descriptions. This is your chance to tell potential buyers that they are buying exactly the book they were looking for, so make sure to include all of the details about the book.

An equally important detail is indicating the right book condition. It’ll be of no good to lie about the condition saying that it’s ‘Like New’ when it’s basically ‘Used’.

It is crucial to keep your customers satisfied, i.e., you need to organize high-quality customer service, communicate with your customers, promptly answer their questions, and effectively solve any problems to ensure your store’s rating is constantly high.

4. Market Your Book-Selling Business (for those who sell books on their own website)

There are numerous ways to reach potential customers and get your bookstore noticed. First of all, you can take advantage of social media, which is an invaluable tool for marketing your brand. You can reach the masses quickly with a few clicks of a button and some marketing budget. Create a Facebook page and post regular updates regarding your bookselling business. You can also hire an SMM specialist who will grow your brand on social media by publishing images and videos, posting reviews of books, or even hosting contests and giveaways to draw in more followers.

Online advertising networks are a great option if you’re looking for more targeted marketing. With these networks, you can create ads tailored to a specific audience. For example, you may target people fond of rare and antique books you sell in your boutique. If you have a brick-and-mortar business, you can also target ads to people by location to get more local customers.

Following these tips can effectively market your bookselling business and attract more customers.

Advice

Be patient, and don’t expect to make much money immediately. Building a successful bookselling business takes time and dedication, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t make a lot of money right away. Finally, be flexible and open to trying new things. There are many ways to sell books for profit, so don’t get stuck in the same old routine.

Bottom Line

Making money selling books can be a great way to make some extra cash, especially when you’re a student looking for a side hustle (feel free to read about more alternatives for side hustles for college students). With the right resources, research, and year-by-year experience, you can succeed with this and try scaling your processes and building a bookselling business. With the proper knowledge and understanding of the market, you can become a successful bookseller and make a living from it.

Good luck, and happy selling!

Copyright law protects the exclusive rights of creators of various works: writers, artists, musicians, etc. You can’t take someone’s painting and display it in a gallery as your own; the same goes for music and books. You can’t copy and sell these works as if they are your own works, either. However, there is a limitation to copyright law: you can buy and resell the works of others—according to the first sale doctrine.

This is exactly what millions of people do by selling used (and not used) goods—not only works of art. When we buy something, we don’t buy copyright rights for it; we just own a physical or digital object that we can rent, resell, destroy, or give away—at our own discretion.

Or can we?

Here’s an example. As a student who majors in bridge engineering, you may have probably bought The Tower and the Bridge: The New Art of Structural Engineering by David P. Billington for your collection at some point in your studies. Say, you bought it new from the bookstore. Now it’s your property—this exact physical paperback copy.

Yet, there is a bit of a situation around the first sale doctrine regarding used books (there’s always, isn’t there?) Let’s try to decipher why it looks pretty much like the shadow library dilemma we discussed in one of our earlier posts and how it can affect everyone who’s closely related to the book industry and book resellers in the first place.

• What Is the First Sale Doctrine?
• Exceptions to the First Sale Doctrine
• The First Sale Doctrine and Goods Made Overseas—The Unhappy Publishers’ Case
• The First Sale Doctrine and Libraries—The Internet Archive Case
• How Does the First Sale Doctrine Affect the Used Book Market?
• The First Sale Doctrine Today

What Is the First Sale Doctrine?

Let’s define the first sale doctrine to get the terms straight.

In the 1908 Supreme Court case Bobbs-Merrill Co. v. Straus, the Court held, “In our view the copyright statutes, while protecting the owner of the copyright in his right to multiply and sell his production, do not create the right to impose, by notice, such as is disclosed in this case, a limitation at which the book shall be sold at retail by future purchasers, with whom there is no privity of contract.”

The Copyright Act of 1909 and the current Copyright Act of 1976 are both based on the same principle.

According to the  American Library Association, “The “first sale” doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 109(a)) gives the owners of copyrighted works the rights to sell, lend, or share their copies without having to obtain permission or pay fees. The copy becomes like any piece of physical property; you’ve purchased it, you own it. You cannot make copies and sell them—the copyright owner retains those rights. But the physical book is yours.”

So, let’s take a look at another fantastic book in your collection: Guastavino Vaulting: The Art of Structural Tile. As an owner, you can sell, rent, share it with friends, burn or drown it—whatever you want. Ok, we’re joking; the book that chronicles the architectural legacy of Rafael Guastavino should be treated with utmost respect and care.

However, we should remember that the first sale doctrine is very narrow—you can only apply it to a specific copy. Besides, it has exceptions.

Exceptions to the First Sale Doctrine

The doctrine of first sale doesn’t empower the owner to “reproduce, adapt, publish, or perform the work without the authorization of the author.” So the exceptions do not apply to

Licensed Works

You can’t apply the first sale defense to licensed goods.

Digital Transmissions

As we’ve already mentioned, the first sale exception only applies to the copyright owner’s distribution right—not to the reproduction right. Every new digital copy is generated by the transmission, which is technically reproduction.

Important Fact: eBooks fall exactly under this category—therefore, the first sale doctrine doesn’t apply to ebooks, and libraries cannot freely lend them indefinitely after purchase—only under a license and only during a set period of time.

Certain Types of Displays

Only copies publicly displayed directly or one image at a time can be covered by the first sale exception.

Unauthorized Copies

Only “lawfully made” copies can be protected by the first sale doctrine. It can’t be applied to the distributions or displays of illegally made copies.

Now that we’ve defined the first sale doctrine and specified its exceptions let’s try to understand why there’s controversy around books and the first sale doctrine application and take a look at the two most prominent cases.

The First Sale Doctrine and Goods Made Overseas—The Unhappy Publishers’ Case

The first case can be related to the last exception we mentioned earlier—unauthorized copies.

It’s not news that American textbook publishers create identical or very similar international textbook editions and editions that are intended for sale overseas at lower prices. While these editions are not unauthorized copies, there’s a similarity in how publishers react to the first doctrine application in their case. Here is an example.

In the Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. case in 2008, Wiley & Sons sued Kirtsaeng (a Thai student living in the United States) for copyright infringement. Kirtsaeng’s family in Thailand helped him purchase and ship to the US about 600 textbooks published by Wiley Asia (John Wiley & Sons’ foreign subsidiary.)

Wiley Sons alleged that the company had never given permission to import books to the United States, and the notice on them contained an explicit prohibition as well as a label for exclusive distribution in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, “This book is authorized for sale in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East only [and] may not be exported. Exportation from or importation of this book to another region without the Publisher’s authorization is illegal and is a violation of the Publisher’s rights. The Publisher may take legal action to enforce its rights. The Publisher may recover damages and costs, including but not limited to lost profits and attorney’s fees, in the event legal action is required.”

Kirtsaeng used the first sale doctrine to defend himself in court. He stated that he didn’t need the publisher’s permission to resell the books in the United States. The federal district court sided with Wiley & Sons, and so did the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit: the first sale doctrine can’t be applied to works produced abroad.

Image Source

However, in 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision and ruled that there’re no geographic limits on the first sale doctrine—physical books produced and purchased abroad could be imported into the U.S. for reselling purposes—there’s no violation of the copyright owner’s distribution rights under copyright law.

The case caused a stir. The publishers weren’t happy.

To sum it up, now you know that if you happen to buy a copy of Shell Structures for Architecture: Form Finding and Optimization published by Routledge—which is a British multinational publisher—you can bring it to the U.S. and sell it any time on a second-hand market without any worries or concerns. It’s absolutely legal.

The First Sale Doctrine and Libraries—The Internet Archive Case

The first sale doctrine copyright application has always been important for libraries. It’s the basis that allows them to lend books to the public. And while there’s always been some tension between publishers and libraries, in the case of physical books, things are crystal clear: libraries purchase books they lend to patrons—in this situation, the first sale doctrine is 100% applicable.

However, in our digital world, things got complicated. You can’t apply the doctrine’s digital transmissions exception here, as the process for lending eBooks is different. As we’ve already mentioned earlier, libraries rent eBooks from publishers under a paid license. Therefore, they can only lend an eBook a certain number of times; then, the license needs to be renewed. Licenses are expensive, and not every library can afford them.

In this respect, the Hachette Book Group et al. v. Internet Archive case is interesting. In 2020, the Internet Archive—which offers scanned books available to the public for free via their website—was sued for copyright infringement by the four publishers: Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House. They accused Internet Archive of copyright infringement and violation of their exclusive reproduction and distribution rights under the Copyright Act of the U.S.

According to the publisher, the first sale doctrine does not apply to the unauthorized reproduction of a work (which they accuse the Internet Archive of doing). The Internet Archive insists that they stick to the best practices of controlled digital lending, where they buy (they become owners), scan copies of these books (as allowed by the first doctrine) and lend them online to patrons one at a time (pretty much like physical books in physical libraries are lent) for free.

But for publishers, scanning books to make digital copies is an act of reproduction, not distribution, which makes the first sale doctrine immediately redundant and impossible to be used as a defense in court, which also means that Internet Archive is breaking the law.

On the other hand, for those who advocate for open access to books and study materials, the case illustrates how anxious publishers are about losing a share of the eBook market and their profits from expensive licensing agreements.

While the case isn’t ruled out when we’re writing this article—the lawsuit has been ongoing for over two years now and will probably take years to resolve—we can only wait and see the outcome.

So if bridge engineering is your major and electronic music is your hobby, you may have already read Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk—this comprehensive study about Detroit Techno, its origins and impact. If you haven’t and are of two minds about renting it from the Internet Archive, you should probably do it now, as there’s a chance you won’t be able to use this option in the nearest future.

How Does the First Sale Doctrine Affect the Used Book Market?

So what’s the current situation?

On the one hand, there’s the copyright first sale doctrine that allows a fair share of activity in the book world—from garage sales to libraries and used bookstores—with plenty of organizations and companies (e.g., the American Library Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, Goodwill, Powell’s Books, eBay, etc.) using it to support their activity. There are also plenty of online used booksellers that can actually function as a business solely due to the existence of this doctrine.

On the other, there are publishers and their annoyance regarding the profits they lose due to the entire used book reselling business (and the entire digital book business they are hysterically trying to control). Textbook publishers are understandably vexed (more than others) by the first sale doctrine copyright application, and they’re constantly trying to interfere with any business or organization that eases access to textbooks and study materials (remember shadow libraries?)

In other words, the first sale doctrine protects used booksellers (as well as a million other retail businesses). Without it, you’d be unauthorized to donate books to charities and libraries, libraries won’t be able to lend books, and book businesses and book buyers would be cut off from a fair share of affordable books (again, a million other retail businesses and users—from jewelry to used cars—would suffer according to the same scenario).

That would be the world where your act of selling a copy of Beyond Bending: Reimagining Compression Shells to a used bookseller (or even giving it away to your fellow student) would be considered a copyright violation. The thing is that while the representatives of other industries—say, automotive—don’t see it as a problem (it’s hard to imagine Chevrolet interfering with your selling your dear old Chevy to a local used car dealer), book publishers are pushing right into this direction. Not nice, right?

The First Sale Doctrine Today

We should take into consideration that the first sale doctrine was enacted at the time when books were accessible only in psychical formats, and it was hard to reproduce them in large quantities manually (or even industrially); there weren’t any digital books on the agenda let alone the problem of their ownership and sharing. Yet, things are changing fast.

There’s little surprise in publishers’ attempt to interfere with the first sale doctrine, as it was not convenient for them in the first place and hasn’t done them any favors ever since. They’re doing everything in their power to prevent potential profit loss in the digital market and counter the reselling business. They are backed up by software companies that also try to outsmart the first sale doctrine by introducing licensing.

One thing is clear: the first sale doctrine is no longer an ace in any copyright dispute; there’re many factors—with the advent and flourishing of digital technologies—that need to be taken into consideration regarding what practices can be considered fair use or not (not only regarding controlled digital lending). There’s a definite necessity for a better definition (and regulation) of how works created by authors and produced by publishers can be shared. At BookScouter, we advocate for more open access; however, as we’ve already said, we can only wait and see. ]]> https://bsblog.wpenginepowered.com/best-book-scanner-apps/ Tue, 24 Jan 2023 12:51:53 +0000 https://bsblog.wpenginepowered.com/?p=4873

In our earlier article, we’ve covered the topic of book scouting from every angle (you can read it on our blog — The Definitive Guide to Book Scouting), and we also singled out another meaning for the term book sourcing (or book hunting), where we specifically highlighted used book hunting and reselling, as well as making a profit on second-hand books. We also mentioned the tools that book scouts use to find books and resell them most profitably (on Amazon and not only).

Today, we’d like to focus on tools more specifically and discuss several instruments you can use to scout books.

What Is a Book Scanner App?

Let’s get the terms straight. A book scanner app is used to scan the ISBN barcode to quickly view the current prices and sales trends — usually on Amazon. Book scouts use book scanner apps in book arbitrage to buy books low and sell them high in a different market.

How to Choose the Right Book Scanner App?

A book scanner, no matter its quality or price, should be able to show pricing info and sales rank — these are the most critical metrics you need when you scout books. Besides, you should be able to scan many books quickly, which is another feature you should pay attention to. Some book scanner apps will show you Amazon sales rank, which is also a crucial metric for any seller regardless of whether you sell on Amazon exclusively or not. So with a proper scanner app that gives you information about the prices and the sales rank and allows scanning books quickly, you can have a very profitable book reselling business, either large or small.

Two Types of Book Scanner Apps

Various book scanner apps are available — paid and free, more effective or less effective, depending on your purpose. However, the most important thing is to find the book scanner app that’ll work for you. There are two types of barcode book scanner apps book scouts prefer to use in book reselling:

Local Database Apps (PDA)

Such apps also go with scanning devices, and you must pay a monthly subscription. They provide access to a local database of prices and allow scanning more books quicker due to the laser scanner’s higher efficiency. These apps are best for used bookselling businesses, as you can scan way more books with a laser scanner than using your phone’s camera, and you’re not tied to an internet connection.

Popular Local Database Book Scanner Companies

• ASellerTool
• Neatoscan

These tools are not just a scanner app and a scanner.

ASellerTool offers a broad range of solutions for Amazon resellers, from Android/iPhone sourcing and PDA sourcing to AST online book arbitrage. Several packages are available:

• Lite: $9.95 for 12 months (2 months free): Unlimited Live Searches + Amazon Turbo Listing Software
• Standard: $30 for 12 months (2 months free): Local Database + Amazon Turbo Listing Software
• Professional: $35 for 12 months (2 months free): Local Database + Live Searches + Amazon Turbo Listing Software

Neatoscan is a full-scale inventory management system that includes a Neatopricer book scanning app, Neatoscan inventory evaluator, and Neatoscan inventory manager — all of which can equip a professional book reseller with everything they need for business. (Read our article on Book Inventory Management Software: Comparative Overview)

Live Scanning Apps

You need to download them to your phone (iPhone/Android). The benefit of such apps is that you only need your phone and a working internet connection. You don’t need to purchase any extra hardware (e.g., laser scanner), and you can have access to the most recent data.

Most Popular Live Book Scanner Apps

• Amazon Seller App
• ScoutIQ
• Scoutly (FBAScan)
• Scan Power Mobile
• Seller Mobile
• Scoutify 2
• Profit Bandit
• Keepa
• BookScouter

So, the former option is best for reselling books as a business — a full-time or part-time one, while the latter is more convenient for individual book resellers and businesses alike. Now, let’s take a look at the best and most recommended book scanner apps that can help you scout books quicker and with the highest profit.

Amazon Seller App

As the name suggests, Amazon Seller App is specifically designed to help sellers manage their businesses on Amazon. It’s not aimed at book resellers in the first place, and it’s not a simple scanning app. Rather, it’s an app with a scanner that can be used for managing all types of products. However, seasoned booksellers know it well. You need to have an Amazon seller account to use it; otherwise, you won’t get access to all the essential information like Amazon price, product category and FBA fees, potential profit, and the Amazon Best Sellers Rank, and you won’t be able to see how competitors perform.

ScoutIQ

As opposed to the Amazon Seller App, ScouteIQ has been designed with booksellers in mind — this is the app that helps you sell books on Amazon profitably (but, of course, you can use it for retail arbitrage in general). The company urges its users to ”Scan it, list it, sell it.” And according to numerous user reviews, it works well. You can scan ISBNs and get the lowest FBA prices (according to the ScoutIQ website). It has plenty of analytical features (e.g., eScore, a rating history for the past six months) and provides access to offline Amazon’s product database. It’s not free, but the price ($44/month or $432/year) is worth it if you’re doing book arbitrage professionally.

Scoutly (FBAScan)

Scoutly and TurboLister combo app by ASellerTool allows you to check all Amazon products’ pricing information offline and online. Live search is available for Amazon US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. If you’re reselling books in the following regions: Amazon U.S., Canada, and the UK, you can access the offline Amazon database and manage your business without an internet connection. Scoutly, formerly FBAScan, is developed by ASellerTool and has a range of benefits as opposed to its competitors: among other things, it gives access to eBay prices, gives you Keepa information, displays the number of days with sales, and allows you to set profit triggers. Surely enough, it costs more than some of its competitors, too. Yet, all in all, it’s a great tool that can be used both by individual book resellers and businesses.

ScanPower Mobile

The next book scanner app we’d like to review is ScanPower, which offers a range of similar functions to the scanner apps mentioned earlier. It’s, in fact, an e-commerce seller, too, that gives access to the current market pricing and demand for Amazon products. Yet again, while ScanPower hasn’t been specifically designed for book resellers, it can scan book barcodes and display relevant book information. It also supports search by ISBN, ASIN, UPC, or keyword. It’s compatible with Bluetooth scanners and can provide all book details such as title, cover art, rank, best offers, and five lowest New, Used, and FBA offers, among other things. With 30 days trial with all plans, you can choose the one that suits you most depending on your business size and needs: Basic ($49/month), Pro ($99/month), or Enterprise ($199/month).

Seller Mobile

Another eCommerce solution that book resellers can effectively employ is SellerMobile. The platform contains features that help you run your Amazon business smoothly. The app lets you scan products using UPC or ASIN and access all your FBA and FBM orders, inventory, and sales — all on one screen and through the dashboard you can customize. You can also keep track of your account’s profits, margins, and inventory. As a business, you can use this app to your best advantage and maximize profitability by automating pricing and product reviewing. You can also reduce potential revenue loss through advanced inventory management and forecasting.

Scoutify 2

Scoutify 2 is an InventoryLab product and a mobile scouting application that can help you determine the potential profitability of a product (a book, in our case) and keep all your expenses on track: see if it’s profitable to scout, check all available offers for it on Amazon, check your history of sales and purchases. All these features can be used on the go; however, you’ll have to pay for the InventoryLab subscription: $69/month or $690/year. It’s not the cheapest option, but according to many users, ”The price is totally worth it.”

Profit Bandit

Profit Bandit is yet another Amazon barcode scanner app you can use for book arbitrage. It lets you scan a barcode quickly and check a book’s profitability, postage rates, and Amazon FBA fees. Profit Bandit can be used in two modes, depending on your needs: the non-Pro and Pro modes. Among the features available in the Pro mode are Amazon global store support, the history of all your scans, access to the offline database, and product restriction alerts. The app has a built-in profit calculator that will accurately calculate the possible profit from listing a book on Amazon. There’s a ”Manual Keyword Search” function that lets you search for products without scannable barcodes.

Keepa

While Keepa is a web-based price tracking software, it also has a full-scale Android version and an iOS app with price history charts and alerts. The app allows you to scan barcodes and access a detailed price history of a product as well as many other data points (e.g., product rating, review count, and new offers). You can use this tool in book arbitrage to get the most accurate price history information.

BookScouter

Alternatively, you can use BookScouter for the same purpose — and more. While BookScouter isn’t an eCommerce solution that will connect you directly to Amazon, it can do a lot more for you. This online price comparison platform and app delivers data from over 30 book buyback vendors. First, you can scan barcodes and ISBNs with it; next, you compare real-time price quotes and choose the best ones. Finally, you sell books to vendors with the best offers (not necessarily on Amazon). You can do the live scanning in local shops and on sales; you can also search the books by their IBSNs, titles, and authors. The best BookScouter’s advantage is that you get access to the prices of various online booksellers (not just Amazon), and you can choose the best offer on the market. BookScouter also offers Pro Tools ($29.99/mo) for seasoned book scouts and professional resellers. Read more about the ISBN / Book Barcode Scanner App from BookScouter.

The Final Thoughts

As you can see, you can do book arbitrage more productively than ever. There are plenty of instruments that can help present-day book scouts to improve the efficiency of their sales and increase profits. Undoubtedly, all the apps we’ve covered today can successfully do this. However, we’d like to emphasize BookScouter, and for a reason. While most of these apps focus on retail arbitrage in general, BookScouter has been designed specifically for book arbitrage — which means it’s all about books — not only about Amazon. And this is the best advantage you can utilize as a book reseller — using as many channels as possible and getting access to as much data as available. ]]> https://bsblog.wpenginepowered.com/some-helpful-tips-for-book-scouting/ https://bsblog.wpenginepowered.com/some-helpful-tips-for-book-scouting/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2023 09:40:15 +0000 http://bsblog.wpengine.com/?p=110 Hey BookScouters!  

Need a few helpful tips to help you while you’re scouting? We’ve got you covered!

If you’re anything like us, you have a pile of books sitting around at home—both read and unread—and have found yourself wondering, “Could these be worth anything?”

Depending on what’s on your bookshelf, the answer may be yes! Though not all books are worth the time and effort it takes to resell them, some types of books can earn you a pretty penny.

According to market data from top used booksellers and reselling marketplaces like Amazon, these are the best books to resell—some of them may surprise you!

Textbooks

The first entry in our list of the best books to resell may seem like the most obvious: textbooks. Considering that academic publishers charge students exorbitant prices for their necessary reading materials, it makes perfect sense that the used textbook business is booming. Not all textbooks are valuable, though. These are some of the qualities buyers are looking for in used textbooks:

• Up-to-date information. Though there is some value in historical textbooks, most buyers are looking for textbooks that have been published in the last 3 years—or more recently, depending on the subject.
• Access codes. This is where things get tricky, as many modern academic publishers now include access codes along with new textbooks, which allows students to access important class information online. Some access codes are transferable, but most access codes are simply “rented” and cannot be sold. Do your research to find out if you can offer an access code with your used textbook.

Students are always looking to purchase their academic materials at a discount, making textbooks one of the best books to resell by far.

Self Help Books

We could all use a bit of help from time to time, which is why self-help has become one of the most popular genres in publishing today. Psychology books, especially self-help books, are also some of the best books to resell because of the nature of the reader—most people read a self-help book, make notes and take them to heart (or not), then never pick it up again. This is great news, as buyers prefer gently-used books to ones that have been demolished over many reading sessions. These are a few of the bestselling used self-help books from the past few years, making them some of the best books to resell:

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
• Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… And It’s All Small Stuff by Richard Carlson

Though these used books fly off the shelves, there is a self-help book for nearly every niche, as self-help books aimed towards financial literacy and management are also extremely popular. If you have a used self-help book in good condition, it is well worth your time to list it online.

Literary Classics 

Like textbooks, students of every age are always in need of literary classics to assist with their academic pursuits. Since most students require a copy that they can use and abuse, filling each page to the brim with notes, used literary classic books can be sold in nearly any condition. That being said, books in good condition (especially hardback books) will sell for more than a damaged, paperback copy. In fact, literary classics are the most in-demand type of books, second only to textbooks, making them some of the best books to resell. Just check out this list of the bestselling used books in recent years from AbeBooks—the list is composed of almost all literary classics!

Book Sets and Series

Many people believe in the mantra of “all or nothing”—readers are no different. This is why one of the best books to resell is not a singular book at all, but multiple: book sets. Those that find themselves enjoying the first few installations of a series will likely want to purchase the rest of the novels, but since book sets are costly, they turn to used book resellers.

As with nearly every other type of reselling niche, a whole set is far more valuable than just one piece on its own, so if you have a full series of books in good quality (bonus points if they still have the original set packaging or box), you can earn a tidy profit. If you have a book set that is in demand, like a bestseller such as the Harry Potter series, you may have more luck than if you are offering a set of encyclopedias.

Faith-Based and Religion Books

Since the majority of the most popular religions across the world revolve around a book (or books, or scrolls, etc.), it stands to reason that religious people are perfectly comfortable with reading. This idea is held up by the fact that religious and faith-based books—including faith-based fiction, self-help, devotionals, and the like—make up a large portion of the bestselling used books of all time. Of course, this also makes religious and faith-based books some of the best books to resell.

That being said, religion textbooks and books are plenty on nearly all reselling marketplaces due to their sheer demand, making it a difficult niche for sellers. If you are looking to sell religious books in order to turn a profit, you will need to ensure that each of your copies is in very good condition and offers enticing extras to buyers, such as discounts or free shipping.

The Best Books to Donate: Use Your Best Judgment

Book reselling is not for the faint of heart, as it is a competitive and oversaturated niche. For many resellers, the secret behind their success is not knowing what to resell, but what not to resell. Here are a few of the worst books to resell, which are better left in the donation box:

• Out-of-Date Nonfiction: Whether it be a textbook or a nonfiction novel, if the information within is no longer relevant (and the book isn’t old enough to be considered of historical importance), toss it out or read what to do with outdated books.
• Children’s Books: Children’s books are a popular bookselling category, but many people are reluctant to purchase used children’s books due to the simple reason that kids have germs. Children love their books, but as loving toddler hands turn every page, they wipe snot and Dorito dust on them, potentially infecting future readers. Donate children’s books to libraries with sanitation procedures instead.
• Well-Loved Books: Though you may feel a certain camaraderie with previous readers when checking out a library book that has been dog-eared and had notes written in the margins, you don’t want to purchase a marked-up or damaged book. If your book is beyond repair or if it feels too sentimental to sell, don’t bother creating an Amazon listing for it. Donate it!